Yesterday (technically two days ago because it's 2:30 AM here), I woke up after only three hours of sleep to trudge my butt to the bus stop for a three hour ride to Dublin. I got to see some of the prettiest scenery around as I looked out the window. One yard even had about 20 baby bunnies chowing down on the grass. I admit it. I AWWWWW'd at the sight of them. I think the other people on the bus thought I was a lunatic. The rest of the animals I saw were sheep. And cows. A whole freaking lot of cows. More than in Lancaster County, PA, and I thought that was impossible.
Once I got into Dublin, it was a matter of finding my way to St. Stephen's Green, where my Viking Splash Tour bus was set to leave. After gaining my bearings in the city, I managed to get there about 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to leave. The tour was led by a really nice guy named Pat, who led us around the city while telling us about the city's history and roaring like a Viking. They provided plastic Viking helmets for us to wear (as you can see in the bottom left of the picture), but I abstained from wearing them, as my hair (which I had to keep down to fit into the helmet) kept getting in my face with the wind blowing it around.
We drove around Dublin for a while, passing by some interesting buildings and statues that were central to Dublin's history, including a museum full of artifacts from when the city was partially inhabited by Vikings. We also got to see town tourist sites like the statue of Molly Malone (infamous from the song), Trinity College and Oscar Wilde's birth home. Aside from the landmarks, the city is filled with beautiful architecture from several different time periods, including an entire mile of preserved Georgian homes. There were also a row of homes that were built for American occupancy during WWII. These homes were built by women and expected to last 6 weeks. They're still standing after nearly 70 years. Did I mention they were built by women? That's right. Female empowerment!
After a while, Pat took us toward a dock, where we all put on lifevests. The bus then drove straight off the dock and onto the river that flows through Dublin. While we didn't get to go very far on the water because of the levies installed to allow barges to travel through the water, we did get to see the Bord Gais Energy Theatre and some boats made of concrete. How they float, I'm not sure, but they were pretty interesting to look at. Apparently, the part of the bay we were on is used to give surfing and windboarding lessons. If it weren't so cold here, I may have signed up to take one. But since it is, the thought didn't even cross my mind.
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| Building inside Trinity College |
Once we were done with the Viking Splash tour, I headed up Westmoreland Street to find Trinity College, where I could get in to see the famous Book of Kells, which was originally created by monks over 1200 years ago. However, once I got to the courtyard of the college, the line to get into the building were the book was held was probably over 500 people long. Rather than waste my time standing out in the rain to see the book, I headed to get something to eat and sit out the rain. Admittedly, I did stop along the way to pick up some souvenirs for my family. I'm a shopoholic like that.
A couple of hours later, I figured that I should at least try to find the building where the concert was being held. So I started walking and found myself standing outside of the Button Factory, where a line was already beginning to form four hours before the doors would even open. There I met a couple of girls from Belfast who were also waiting to see The Used. We talked for a little while, mostly about the differences between Ireland, America and Scotland (where they had just gotten back from). It was then that I found out why everyone had been so early getting to the concert hall.
For anyone who showed up between 5:30 and 6:00, the band held a meet and greet where you could get autographs, hugs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the band. Now, understand that I've been in love with this band since around the 7th grade, so this got me really super excited. As it got closer to the time when they would let us in to meet them, Chloe and I just kept looking at each other like "THIS IS AWESOME!!!" Somehow, we managed to form a group of awesome people that were also waiting for the band to start, including Tommii.
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| Tommii and Chloe |
Now, Tommii was just as ridiculously excited about the concert as the rest of us, and he didn't even know about the meet and greet. Telling him will remain one of the funniest moments of my life. His excitement level went from about an 8 to a 20+. After his heart calmed down, we all started trying to pass the time by singing along to our favorite songs, naming bands we're obsessed with, listening to the band do sound checks, and looking at the time every 20 seconds. The time finally arrived when they let us in to meet the band. I didn't have my ticket yet, so I had them sign an envelope I had in my purse (lame, I know). Chloe and Tommii both got hugs from Quinn and Bert, and I was green with envy.
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| Jodie Has a Hitlist (Well, half of it) |
After the meet and greet, they stuck us back outside to wait another hour and a half. Of course, it started raining like cats and dogs, so we were all soaked when we finally got inside. They had a coat check, but of course I don't carry cash so I couldn't check my purse or coat. I ended up stuffing my coat into my bag and leaving it on a couch with all my valuables in my pocket. Remarkably, nothing was taken. I guess everyone was too busy enjoying to concert to take the opportunity to steal. The opening band, Jodie Has a Hitlist, started playing at around 8 o'clock and the fun times started. They were good, but everyone was just too excited to see The Used.
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| Bert McCracken |
The crowd started screaming ridiculously loud when the band finally came to the stage (myself included). The real moshing started when they played the first song "Take it Away" (one of my personal favorites). At first, Tommii tried to make sure that none of us girls got hurt. Of course, that didn't last long, and I ended up plastered to the back of another one of the guys who joined our band of misfits while we were waiting outside, Paul. We stayed that close for about three songs because neither of us could find the space to separate.
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| Quinn Allman |
We were like sardines in a can, and Chloe kept getting knocked back. Since we were so close to the stage, I guess that's to be expected. After the first few songs, everything calmed down a little bit. We got everyone back into the same little area and prepared to dance the night away. We kept looking at each other and screaming along with the music or just screaming in general. Thankfully, Paul made sure to watch my back so that I didn't get injured from that angle, which was a very distinct possibility with how excited/ridiculously crazy everybody was.
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| Jeph Howard |
Anyway, they played a couple of songs from the new album, but most of them were from the older records, which made me originally fall in love with the band. So, as we were singing, jumping and moshing, I just realized how lucky I am that I got to see my favorite band, especially since the last few months are already going to be engrained in my memory for the rest of my life. The fact that I got to meet them, and actually talk to them, after the last nine years listening to their music, is something that I will likely never again be able to replicate. I am so grateful that I got this opportunity and got to meet some really great new friends in the process. It truly was spectacular.
I actually had to leave the concert about 10 minutes before the end so that I could make my bus, but apparently they allowed to crowd to get pictures with them after the show. Chloe got pictures with Quinn and Jeff, as Bert left early to rest his voice. I am incredibly jealous, but glad that she got the opportunity she was so excited for. After getting some really poor directions from a couple of Dubliners, I finally found my way to the last bus heading to Limerick with about 30 seconds to spare. I managed to get a shower before passing out around 3 AM. I then spent all day in bed today because my feet were like "You're not putting any weight on us today, buddy." I'm just now starting to relax enough to fall asleep, so I'm going to sign off until next time, which will hopefully be May 3rd or 4th.
Until then,
Brooke
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